Say what you will about the Yankees and their oft-overblown history, but they do produce some classy athletes.

Maybe it’s the 27 World Series titles. Maybe it’s the intrinsic responsibility of wearing the pinstripes and having Monument Park with those Yankee legends over your shoulder. Maybe it’s the oppressive fan and media scrutiny, and the need to be constantly in the spotlight. But the list is long of players signed and developed in the Bronx that have represented the game with class and grace.

Most recently, there’s guys like Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and, now, after announcing on Facebook that this will be his last year as an active player, there’s Derek Jeter.

Like Rivera before him, Jeter’s season will be a victory lap with the chance for opposing fans around baseball to recognize him with a standing ovation one more time. The Yankees’ final regular-season game is at Fenway Park and already the value of those tickets is reportedly greater than the Red Sox’ opening day.

If baseball’s appeal is all about family values, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, then Jeter has always been a player that you wouldn’t mind having as a son. It’s what makes his appeal universal.

“I know they say that when you dream you eventually wake up,” Jeter said in a statement on his official Facebook site. “Well, for some reason, I’ve never had to wake up. Not just because of my time as a New York Yankee but also because I am living my dream every single day.”

It’s ironic that fellow Yankee Alex Rodriguez will be serving his one-year suspension for his involvement with Biogenesis just as his teammate Jeter is being celebrated. They used to be baseball buddies long ago, but clearly took different career paths, drifting inevitably and inexorably apart. Baseball needed the feel-good of Jeter’s announcement to balance the disgrace of A-Rod.

I recall being invited as a media adviser to MLB’s annual Rookie Career Development Program in 1999. The format is three top prospects from each organization gathered at a resort complex in suburban D.C. underwritten by both MLB and the players’ union.

It’s four days of seminars, guest speakers and discussion about how to make wise decisions as their careers move forward. One of the selling points to youngsters that year was a slide show of how Jeter and A-Rod met at this seminar in January ’94 and began their great friendship, even though one was a Yankee and the other a Mariner.

I recall Jeter and the way he treated Arthur Richman, a senior adviser to George Steinbrenner and the man who recommended the Yankees hire Joe Torre in ’96. Richman was in his 70s and having trouble with his memory.

Arthur introduced me to Jeter in the dugout at spring training in Tampa and waxed poetic, rambling on to me about Jeter as he would his own son. Jeter patiently listened, smiled at me and placed his hand on Arthur’s shoulder, gave it a gentle squeeze, then turned and went to work. Jeter clearly listened more closely than his talented but ego-fuelled teammate. Jeter is baseball.

I celebrate Jeter and his patience with the hordes of media that inevitable occupy every nook and cranny of the Yankees’ clubhouse. Every team needs a leader in how to act like a true professional. In the hottest spotlight in baseball, Jeter has always been that man. That value is underrated.

I recall Jeter as a rookie, leading the Yankees back to a title against the Braves in ’96. I recall the way he always treated Jays coach Brian Butterfield, who had worked endlessly with him as a minor-leaguer to hone his defensive skills. He didn’t forget.

“In the 21-plus years in which I have served as Commissioner, Major League Baseball has had no finer ambassador than Derek Jeter,” Bud Selig said in an official statement. “Since his championship rookie season of 1996, Derek has represented all the best of the National Pastime on and off the field. He is one of the most accomplished and memorable players of his — or any — era.”

Face it. For the last three seasons, it’s been an agonizing process with the Yankees. Jeter’s skills had been diminishing. Stats purists will never understand his total package of contributions. What was important was that the numbers showed his range at shortstop was way down and his offensive slip was showing. It’s called getting old as an elite athlete. It happens when you don’t cheat.

So what do the Yankees owe Jeter as the face of the franchise and leader by example, especially in a season in which the Bronx Bombers have decided that it’s World Series or bust once again?

It’s hard to place a dollar value on where he is in his career, but one final year at $12 million, the ninth highest salary on the 2014 Bomber roster, sounds about right. Plus they have a chance to capitalize on his victory tour.

Oh yeah, Jeter may have one vice that we haven’t talked about. The tabloids say he likes to put together gift baskets for his girlfriends. If that’s the worst we can do, then that’s pretty good.

Nice job, nice career, nice man, Derek Jeter.

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